Arlene Jones on the Brach Site

Arlene Jones has opposed plans for a new High School on the old Brach's site and suggested this recently,

If we as a community are truly concerned about wanting a state-of-the-art high school in Austin and want it to be a safe environment, then we need to take a page from the Mayor's handbook and put the school in a location where our children can feel just as safe as those who attend his alma mater. So I want to be the first to put forth my suggestion for an alternative site.

On Madison Street at Menard Street sits the brand new 15th District police station. It also has sitting across the street, 3 blocks of prime business land that was used to put in several parking lots for it. My suggestion is, rather than place a brand new school in a neighborhood that is still struggling socially, put the new high school for Austin on the land currently used as parking lots for the 15th District. With a school directly across from the police department, our children, like those at DeLaSalle, can concentrate on their education without the worry of having to deal with gang-bangers and drug dealers.

I still like the notion of putting a casino at Brach's but a new distribution site works. Jones nailed it here on where that new school should go.

On a related development note... there is a Menards coming to North and Kostner. I think it's the third store in the city. Strange how Menard's escaped the kind of flak thrown at Walmart considering stories like this: Slaves for big money at Menards. Menards must have better PR folks.